File_Get_Contents fails when not logged in

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PHP

Scenario:

User login's to the website and access a file using file_get_contents.

Issue:

Let's say the user is not logged in and still want to access the file. When trying to access the file using "file_get_contents" as shown below

$file_contents = file_get_contents(DIR."/$FILENAME");

Apache Error log: [<a href='function.file-get-contents'>function.file-get-contents</a>]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in *******.php on line xxx

[<a href='function.file-get-contents'>function.file-get-contents</a>]: failed to open stream: File exists in *******.php on line xxx

Whats the cause of this error? Is it something related to user not logged in the php Session? How do i solve it?